Shadeland (The Ethereal Crossings, 1)

by D.L. Miles

  Chapter 4

  I awoke only a few hours later to a pounding on the front door. Stumbling through the hallway, I noticed that Luke’s door was just opening; he came out weary eyed and confused.

  “What’s going on?” he asked me, as if I would really know. I ignored his question and continued to the door. When I opened it I was greeted by two policemen, neither of them looking too happy. Luke came up next to me, hand leaning on the open passage.

  “Lucan Harroway?” the taller cop asked, hands at his sides, with elbows slightly bent. I found it curious, even at such a time, that they were not in his pockets, or on his hips.

  “Yes?” Luke said, panic starting to show in his voice. “Is something wrong?”

  “You’re under arrest for the suspected murder of Alice Harper, Alex Stafoff and Rosa Navarro.” The officer grabbed Luke by the wrist and pulled him into the hallway, shoving him against the wall. He grabbed the handcuffs from his waist and strapped them to Luke’s wrists.

  “What?” Luke shouted. “What are you talking about? Murder?” The tall cop began walking him down the hall, leaving me with his partner, dumbfounded. I tried taking a few steps out of my doorway, hand reaching for Luke but was stopped.

  “I need to ask you a few questions,” the policeman said, “it shouldn’t take too long. Can I come in?” He gestured towards the living room, completely accustomed to the situation. I was not as used to it as he was.

  “No,” I said, “what are your questions?” He gave me a long look, not pleased that I wasn’t letting him inside. I disregarded the way his lips pursed under his mustache, watching the hallway as Luke was taken away.

  “All right miss,” he said, “what’s your name?” I looked down at his badge and saw his name was Harley. His eyes seemed to run down my outfit, probably seeing me as some party girl; I didn’t blame him, not with what I was wearing then.

  “Liv,” I said. He took out a notepad and scribbled something down on it then looked up at me, not even bothering to move his head up. “Burnett.”

  “And can you tell me what happened last night? Were you at The Corner?” His eyes drifted down my outfit and back up again. He already knew the answer; he was just fishing for something. I told him everything that had happened that night without further prodding; including every insignificant detail right down to what we said, how Luke had done a fake accent and the exact time I had gone to bed. By the time I was done telling him, Harley was staring at me, a blank look in his eyes.

  “That’s…everything?” he said, no longer taking notes. Was that not what he wanted? I didn’t think I had missed anything and right now every detail mattered.

  “Yes.”

  “All right, thank you,” he put his notepad away and tucked the pen in his breast pocket. “We’ll contact you if we need anything else.” Harley turned to leave and I just watched him go, like I had Luke.

  Walking into the police station my legs felt weak. Staying up half the night and then being woken up by police for the second half didn’t sit well with my body. I couldn’t even be sure I was wearing suitable outdoor clothes. After Officer Harley left, I had dashed into my room thrown on the first thing I saw; loose blue jeans and a flimsy sweater. I probably looked like a crack addict with my matching bedhead and bloodshot eyes; it would explain some of the looks I was getting.

  I set my hands on the receptionist’s desk and she glanced up at me. The woman before me looked nice, but…naïve, like you could tell her you were royalty and she would believe you.

  “What can I help you with?” she asked, not caring about my appearance. That was a plus at least, until I remembered she probably saw people like me every day.

  “I need to see Luke Harroway, please,” I requested, not really knowing how this worked. There were most likely specific hours I was supposed to be there and even then I might not be able to talk with a murder suspect alone.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, the kindness in her eyes was gone as soon as she heard his name, “but you won’t be able to see him.” She glanced to the stairs on her left quickly but went back to stapling papers and typing on her keyboard, no longer interested in helping me. Guilty until proven innocent seemed to be her thought.

  “Then is Officer Harley here?” I asked, needing to know what was going on. The receptionist, Bunny her nameplate read, sighed and folded her hands before looking at me.

  “Look, honey,” she started, “this is a very delicate case. Whatever your boyfriend did, you probably don’t wanna know.”

  “Where’s Officer Harley?” I repeated.

  “He’s at a crime scene,” Bunny said, “but he won’t be back till nine!” She had to yell the last part to me as I walked out the door. I was going to get answers if it killed me. Turning left outside I fast walked my way past an alley when a thought occurred to me.

  I glanced around to make sure nobody was watching me, specifically officers. When I saw it was safe I ducked into the alleyway.

  Thinking back to when we were younger, I tried to remember how Luke had told me to reach out to him. If I wanted it bad enough, he would be able to hear my thoughts, at least the ones I wanted him to hear. Somebody walked by the mouth of the alleyway so I kneeled behind a dumpster, hopefully nobody would notice me there. Doing this in my car would be easier but it was too far away, limiting the chances of Luke hearing me. Holding the sides of my head I reached out to Luke.

  Luke, I thought, Luke are you there? Pain shot between my temples as Luke found his way to me. I could feel that he wasn’t pleased with what I was doing.

  Don’t hurt yourself, he warned, this situation sucks enough as it is.

  Hearing his voice in my head made me feel a little better but I still wished I could’ve seen him.

  “Are you okay?” I asked aloud, knowing how stupid the question was.

  I’ve been better, he laughed, they think I murdered Alice last night, and the other girl, Rosa something.

  “Navarro.” I had started talking out loud rather than think my thoughts to him. It made the pain a little more bearable for our communication. It also helped me look insane to anyone around me; something I had realized the hard way as a child.

  What?

  “Nevermind,” I said, looking around the dumpster again. “What evidence do they have?”

  Just the fact that I was last seen coming out of Alice’s boyfriend’s house, he told me, and that Alice and her boyfriend are dead. I was the last person to see them alive! I didn’t speak as I thought about everything. They could only hold onto Luke for forty-eight hours with no real evidence.

  “Okay,” I said, “I’m going to figure out what’s going on.” I stepped out from behind the dumpster before Luke could try and stop me. I was about to block him out when he reached to me again, forcing me to hold my head and lean forward to stop the pain; it didn’t work.

  Wait he called. Just…be careful! Don’t do anything stupid! Walking out of the alleyway rubbing my temples I noticed a man standing there. He was just standing there, watching me.

  His hair was shaggy but blown back; I would bet he had just woken up like that, but it suited him with a matching pair of aviator’s over his eyes. His leather jacket hung loose on his hips but tight on his shoulders and was open to reveal a plain white tee-shirt over grey jeans and large black boots. He was watching me, hands in his pockets; casual.

  What was I supposed to do? He had obviously seen me talking with…well myself. I figured I could go one of two ways; I could keep walking and completely ignore him or I could threaten him into submission. I chose to ignore him.

  With as much strength as possible, I strode past him, only briefly looking at his sunglasses. My legs felt wobbly as I turned away from the stranger, being suddenly aware that I was being watched made it hard to walk properly. It took a lot to not look back at him.

  Once I was safely in my car, I pulled out my phone. Bunny had said that Officer Har
ley was at a crime scene, and since he had asked me questions, it was safe to assume said crime scene was Alice’s boyfriend’s house. Searching through my contacts I found Charlie’s number and dialled.

  “Hello?” she answered after two rings. There was nothing in her voice to say she had heard about Alice’s death. I wasn’t about to tell her, not over the phone at least.

  “Hey, it’s Liv,” I started. How would this conversation go?

  “Hey! What’s up? Change your mind about Friday?”

  “Not exactly,” I said. “Can you tell me what Alice’s boyfriend’s house address? And his name? Luke uh…forgot something there last night.”

  “Oh, uh, sure. His name is Alex something. He lives down Cherryhill Boulevard, he throws wicked parties. Why?”

  “I’ll tell you later, thanks,” I hung up without another word. Charlie wasn’t going to take the news of her friends’ death well, the least I could do was tell her in person; or let the police talk to her first. We weren’t close but I had talked to her a lot and I knew mid-twenties party girls didn’t come much nicer than her.

  I put the car in drive and headed towards Cherryhill Boulevard.